1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling storage of contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, not only personal computers but also various devices such as cellular phones and home electric appliances can connect to networks. Environments in which home electric appliances and the like are used in cooperation extend not only to office use but also to home use since home electric appliances and other electric appliances which are solely used so far are connected to networks.
An example of network techniques that can implement such environments is Universal Plug and Play (to be referred to as UPnP hereinafter). UPnP enables “plug and play” for a device connected to a network (to be simply referred to as a device hereinafter) while it does not require installation of driver software and the like. Furthermore, UPnP is independent of the type of OS (Operating System) operating on each device.
Using UPnP automates operations, by the device, of joining a network and dynamically acquiring an IP address, sending a notification about its own function, and acquiring information about the presence of other devices and their functions.
This enables a device such as a cellular phone or television connected to a network to automatically view, via the network, contents, moving images, still images, and the like held in another device such as a digital camera without user settings.
It is also possible to save still images, moving images, and the like captured by a digital camera or the like in a PC or network storage connected to a network, and synchronize the still images, the moving images and the like between the digital camera and the network storage.
With the above technique, a device such as a digital camera incorporating a UPnP function establishes network connection with a control point for controlling a third party UPnP device via a wired or wireless LAN, thereby forming a system. When the content sync (synchronization) service of UPnP is used, consistency of synchronization of contents cannot be maintained if the contents are moved by pulling out the storage of the digital camera and directly inserting it into the network storage or the like. A similar problem may arise even when the content sync service of UPnP is not used if the contents are moved by putting out the storage of the digital camera and directly inserting it into the network storage or the like.